Experience French culture in Toronto

Homemade Nutella

Homemade Nutella

Hello everybody!

I know there are so many different recipes of homemade Nutella out there and you are probably already confused about which one is the closest to the real Nutella. Well… I didn’t try to replicate Nutella for this recipe so if you are here to find the closest recipe possible this one may not be what you are looking for, but I can promise you that it is as good and even better than the real Nutella (yep it’s possible!). I am a member of the Google + community “Foodies+” and this month they came up with a great challenge : the month of chocolate. I wasn’t planning any special recipe at first for Easter but I have to admit that a chocolate recipe was the perfect idea and honestly who can resist to chocolate?

After trying to make my own chocolates for the first time, and facing a great failure, I decided to go back to the basics! I LOVE Nutella but I usually avoid it as much as I can. Why? Well it is not really a mystery anymore. First of all it is too greasy and it contains palm oil and other bad ingredients. I knew that making a lighter version wouldn’t really be possible but a healthier version? YES!

So here I am with my own recipe of a vegan and refined sugar free Nutella recipe! For this recipe, I decided to add caramelized almonds which gives more sweetness and flavor in my opinion. I also decided to replace the sugar with the natural wonders that Canada has to offer: maple butter and sugar. These are amazing to bake or cook with and are a great alternative to sugar. This Nutella is thicker than the original but I’m sure you can make it more fluid and smooth by adding more oil. I hope that you will fall in love with my version of Nutella!

Let’s start cooking!

Ingredients:

Hazelnut Paste:

260g hazelnuts

1/3 cup maple butter

1/3 cup canola oil

Praline Paste:

200g dry roasted almonds

1/3 cup maple sugar

2 tbsp water

1/3 cup canola oil

Chocolate:

50g unsweetened dark chocolate

15g cocoa butter

Preparation:

Hazelnut paste:

1- For this, you will have to roast your hazelnuts and remove the skin. Preheat your oven at 350°F and roast your hazelnuts for 10 to 15 min ( the skin should start to blister). Once roasted, place your hazelnuts in a towel and rub well until most of the skin is gone (it’s ok if there is still some).

2- Place your roasted and skinned hazelnuts in a food processor and start mixing. When the hazelnuts are grounded, add the maple butter and mix again. Add the oil little by little as it will help making the paste smoother. Reserve the paste on the side. The paste should look like this (see picture below):

Praline Paste:

1- No need to remove the skin here! We are simply going to caramelized these, so in a frying pan add the maple sugar and the water and put on medium/high heat. Wait for the mixture to start making bubbles and add your almonds. Stir well so all the almonds are covered of caramel. Stir until most of the liquid has evaporated. Pour over some parchemin paper and let them cool down a little.

2- Add the caramelized almonds in the food processor and mix well. Like for the hazelnut paste add the oil little by little until you get a smooth paste.

Final Preparation:

1- Place the chocolate and cocoa butter in a bowl and let it melt in a bain-marie. In the mean time, pour back the hazelnut paste with the praline paste into the food processor.

2- Add the melted chocolate into the food processor and mix everything until smooth.

Then enjoy on a slice of fresh bread or like me just eat it with the spoon! 😉 It is a great addition for many dessert! It is a great spread for crepes, awesome inside muffins or in a cake.

I hope you will enjoy this recipe! Let me know in the comment what you think about this recipe and if you liked it.